It's (Supposedly) a Happy Holiday
by aya-kun.zeroaddicted
Summary: When Damian of all people asked him about Christmas, Jason knew he had to think hard about it. The brat wouldn't be satisfied with just a shrug.


The summary was the original plot beginning but the story grew to something else. And my title is just...I just can't think of any, okay. T-T

Timeline/Canon is pick-and-choose so let's just say it's sometime after the return of Bruce Wayne and battle for the cowl without all the stupid shit that happened in that story. Basically, I'm just keeping the Dick and Damian relationship. Also, let's just say Jason left when he saw Dick doing well with the cowl and somehow established the outlaws (redhead/villain Jay doesn't exist here), Tim still went off to find Bruce and Dick was primary guardian over Dami who mellows out much more quickly here than in canon (because I said so). Jason returned, made peace with Tim then Dick with Damian (who deemed his presence tolerable since he learned that his mother had found it to be so) then Bruce. Sort of. And everyone is adjusting to their roles and being all in the city at the same time. References would be made of non-existent scenes but let's just say it happened. I can reject canon all I want if it sucks. And I trust all of your imagination for family moments that I just can't write or expound on here.

Batfam Christmas Stocking for nautrielle's prompt: Don't worry, you belong here just fine.

Posted earlier on AO3 and my Tumblr.

* * *

Jason looked at Damian seated beside him. It was a quiet night for Gotham; the holiday season was either affecting the people of his city in a good way. Or this was just the calm before the storm. With Gotham, it really could go either way.

He'd chanced upon Damian en route to his apartment. Since nothing was happening, he'd decided to turn in a little early. Some of the others had done the same so he hadn't expected Robin to still be out, much less in his designated patrol area which was actually quite some distance from Batman and Robin's usual route. Things had been peaceable between him and Bruce since his return from the time stream, and the distance during patrol was one factor that helped maintain that.

Not really seeing any problem with the bird's intrusion though, Jason swung up and onto the roof, not really going for silent entry except by habit. The brat still should have seen him coming though. Which is why he was surprised when Damian jolted after he called out to the bird.

"Hood."

No sneer or any inflection to his name.

Now Jason was starting to worry (not that he'd say so). Scanning for any injury as he approached his youngest brother, Jason might've wondered if it was poison or gas had the look Damian levelled at him not been so annoyed.

"I'm not injured or poisoned or gassed."

"Uh huh. And also not full of holiday cheer, I see."

Jason saw him hesitate. Curiosity piqued, he went and sat down next to Damian. Removing his hood, Jason combed through his hair to make it less flat. After that, he waited.

He didn't have to wait long.

"What's it really like?"

"Hmm?"

Damian kept his gaze on Gotham but Jason could see him open and close his hands restlessly. The kid wasn't usually this obvious when nervous.

"Christmas."

Jason couldn't stop his face from going slack in surprise. Wasn't it better to ask Dick about this?

As if hearing his thoughts, Damian said further, "Grayson said that this," and here he gestured at the strung up Christmas lights, or at least what little that some families could afford, "Was a holiday to be spent with family."

Jason wasn't sure what to say to that. He almost missed Damian's next words. He'd spoken them so softly. "Are we a family?"

Jason actually had to think about it. Much like Damian, he'd had to learn about and to share his time with more than just Alfred and Bruce; although, unlike Damian, Jason had not known for very long that his family had extended from three to infinity. Well, okay, maybe not infinity but sheesh, he still thought Bruce had gone overboard with seemingly adopting every child in Gotham. Formally or not.

Damian looked at him sideways. His small hands were in a tight fist but Jason could see it trembling. He'd not answered the question.

Honestly, he still wasn't sure either. But he wasn't against the thought. Still, Jason decided to answer his brother's earlier question instead. "Christmas was...is warmth." It took him a while but he did recall some memories. It still hurt to remember them though.

"Mom tried her best." Yup, definitely still hurt. "And we celebrated, I guess." The hurt didn't stop the memories from coming back. Past holiday memories of macaroni salad, maybe a Christmas cupcake or just a warm hug. "But nothing extravagant about it. She…it was only a few times when we even could celebrate it. But we did."

"Mother wasn't big on holidays."

"Yeah, I can see that," Jason agreed. He wondered what it must have been like to suddenly be celebrating the holiday. And properly this time. He didn't think last year counted. From what Dick said, it was a disaster. And this time, it was going to be Damian's first with everyone here. And also with Gotham not turning into a dumpster fire from losing the Batman and waiting to gain a new one.

"What was it like with father?"

Jason had to think harder on that. He didn't really like to admit it, but though the pit restored his mind, he had still been brain damaged and healing green water didn't fix everything. And that meant some memories were always harder to grasp. He tried though.

"Todd?"

"Christmas with B..." Jason had to smile.

* * *

Damian blinked. It was small and a little painful to look at but it wasn't an angry one. Or one designed to hurt as was his usual when he talked about Bruce.

"Hmm, I guess it was alright. I mean I actually got presents. Plural even. I didn't really expect that. At least that first one with them."

Damian frowned. "You were with father for some time then though, weren't you? Wouldn't it have been obvious?"

Jason gave a laugh. "Not to me. Gifts were always small things when it was just mom and me. A hug, a cupcake. Her time. Being with B...I don't know. I guess since I was still training to be Robin, I didn't think I deserved any. Having a ho-house to come back to was enough."

 _Home_. Damian just knew he'd meant to say that but didn't comment on it. He did want an answer to his other question though. This Christmas, everyone was here and no one was actively trying to hurt each other. Damian had had more time to wrap his mind around the idea that family wasn't just blood. And if what he had with Grayson, and now with father, was anything at all like having family really was, this sense of belonging with them, then no one would begrudge him for selfishly wanting more people to be on his side despite disagreements and past mistakes (like with Drake), or having little patience that cause misunderstandings (like with Cain) or behaviour that was less than stellar (like with Pennyworth).

"Are we family, Todd? Do you think that I even belong here with everyone?" Gotham was just beginning to feel like home despite its dreary weather and certain questionable and insane citizens. And Grayson had said that although families sometimes fight each other (and though theirs was more often physical with equal biting emotional punches), having differences in opinion didn't mean they stopped loving each other. When he looked at Jason, at his father and the choices they'd made, it still made him worry. Just like Jason, he'd killed people. And say what you want about how little choice he'd been given, it had still been his choice. Seeing Cassandra had made him painfully aware of that. Her strength in not only the physical had made him realize how little he had thought of life.

It made him realize how that point of view had been one major reason his father had not trusted him. Why Grayson had not trusted him as much when they first worked together.

Seeing his brother, the most vocally stubborn one, actually bend to his father's rules just to remain in Gotham, Todd's only home, also made him aware of how much his brother loved this city enough that he would let father rule over him. At least when it came to crossing the line. The trust between them was so tenuous. Aggravating as it was, his being only eleven gave him more leeway with his father. He had been forgiven much more easily in comparison for his past.

But sometimes, he could see it. Just like now when the word 'home' was hard for his brother to say. Because Todd _had_ killed before. Because father continued to refuse to cross that line. They both couldn't love each other the way they must have back then. Pennyworth had told him some stories from before. Before Todd's return. Before his death. Grayson had even expressed his regret and jealousy of how close they had been. Todd had been his father's first adopted son after all.

Todd back then had needed a father, and his father had needed a son and family.

He still needed family.

They both did.

Damian sometimes wondered about how his father would've been like had Todd not died. Drake had let slip how much he'd changed because of it. Grayson sometimes had this look on his face when father did something. Like he couldn't believe it. Even when that something had been done before.

Todd was always going to be a stopping point and a beginning in the story of his family. Damian wasn't sure at all of how to think about that, but he did know that father missed him. And that despite everything, Todd missed them too, missed being a part of the family.

"You're helping with keeping my home safe. That makes you enough of a friend, to me and to Gotham."

 _Oh._ Damian tried not to be disappointed with that answer. But then he continued, "That Dickhead has basically adopted you in all but legally is enough to make you family. Being B's son doesn't hurt." Jason smirked at him. "Don't worry brat, you belong here just fine."

Damian rolled his eyes at his answer even as it made him a little warmer in his chest. Todd had just basically called them family, had told him clearly that he belonged here. His including Grayson and mentioning his relation to father (without any biting tone even) was by extension clearly an admittance to still thinking of their eldest brother and father as family as well. With enough time, Damian was sure Jason would think of the others as family too just like he himself was beginning to.

This was enough of an answer for him now. Standing up, Damian looked down at his wayward brother and said, "Come home for Christmas, Jason."

* * *

"What?" Jason felt a little off kilter as Damian suddenly ended their conversation and then basically gave him an order.

He wasn't given any chance to question his little brother when Damian threw a line and just left.

Shaking his head at their weird bonding moment, (and it really was that, wasn't it? So weird. Damian actually called him by his first name even!) Jason turned and headed for his apartment. Whatever just happened, at least Damian had walked away without his usual scowl and without any of the morose mood he'd been in earlier.

And if his brother calling him by his name made him smile, well, there was no one nearby who could see beneath his hood.

* * *

 _What the hell am I doing?_ Jason repeated for the nth time as he parked his bike in the outdoor garage and walked all the way to back door of the manor. The door he knew would lead to the kitchen, (one full of memories, actual good ones) that would then lead to the library that would then bypass the dining room (and the people he could clearly hear) and lead to the main living room.

Jason continued his questioning even up until he stood beside the Christmas tree. And then he just stared at it. Particularly, he stared at a couple of ornaments, clearly handmade and old but polished enough to give it a good sheen.

He'd made that. That was his. A red robin painted on a circle of green. And a small stylized bat on a circle of yellow. Bruce had questioned his project but really, no one would question a child being a fan of Batman and Robin and then designed their school project around it.

When he looked down, Jason had to sit down or else he'd fall. Because looking at the gifts beneath the tree, he saw his name.

 _To Jason._

There was a gift with his name on it.

There were _several_ gifts with his name on it.

"Why?"

"Really, Todd?"

Jason turned around and found Damian standing behind him. He felt his chest grow warm as his littlest brother answered him.

"Because you belong here too."

* * *

Hot damn. This is so OOC.

But I wanted fluff. And also, I've not written much of this duo even though I really, really want to. I've ideas but they ain't getting writ so...this will do for now.

Happy Holidays! Hope this was fine. ^^;


End file.
